Kids literature awards accused of elitism

Plenty of disgruntled authors both in Australia and abroad argue that there's an underlying philosophy of snobbery among judges of children's literature awards. Part of the problem is that the top prizes tend to go to books children don't necessarily want to read.

But is there anything wrong with judges focusing on the highbrow end of the market, or should popularity play a part in their decisions? A confidential report commissioned by the Children's Book Council of Australia suggests the time might be right to overhaul Australia's top children's literature award.